Online meetings allow multiple meeting participants to communicate and share information of various types. Online meetings can include features such as audiovisual content. One example is a screencast, in which graphical content (such as webcam video or a screencast) and audio narration from a meeting organizer's computer is transmitted to other participant's computers in real-time. Another example is a video call or video chat in which multiple participants record and transmit real-time video. Online meetings can be implemented using peer-to-peer technologies or server-based technologies.
Typically, an online meeting has one or more organizers, and one or more additional participants. Meetings can be “public,” meaning that access is not limited to authorized participants, or can be “private,” with access being limited to authorized participants. Known online meeting systems use several methods to allow participants to join an in-progress meeting that has been previously initiated by one of the organizers of the meeting. As one example, meeting invitations can include an alphanumeric code that can be transmitted to the meeting server by the user, such as via a dialog box in a user interface for the meeting server. As another example, meeting invitations can include a hyperlink that allows the user in possession of the hyperlink to join the meeting.